Hearing the climax of the story, Master Silas leaned forward, hanging on Luke's every word. "So, did you ever identify that material?"
"I did," Luke whispered, his face a mask of solemnity. "I consulted dozens of journals and old professors. I eventually identified it as a calcified fragment of a Nihilego tentacle."
"Nihilego!" Silas breathed the name as if it were a prayer. "An Ultra Beast! That explains everything! They aren't from this world. Their biology breaks every rule we know. Their remains possess power that defies our regional laws... that's what allowed Arno's system to integrate those Five Poisons!"
In this world, Ultra Beasts were synonymous with disaster—invaders from another dimension whose appearance signaled the collapse of local ecosystems. Because of the terror they inspired, few people ever considered that their discarded parts could be used as cultivation materials.
Luke watched Silas fall into deep thought and felt a twinge of guilt. The twists? The intrigue? Master Silas, I am completely messing with you. He hadn't spent a second researching fossils. He just followed the Cultivation System's step-by-step instructions. But a "cheat code" wasn't a valid explanation in a polite conversation, so he'd improvised. The question now was: what would Silas give him for this "revelation"?
The heavy atmosphere was shattered when Chloe skipped back from the counter. Seeing her father's grim, contemplative face, she slapped him on the shoulder without a hint of mercy. "What's with the long face? Let's go home!"
Silas blinked, regaining his composure. He gently pressed his daughter back into her seat and looked at Luke with newfound intensity. "Your 'secret' has opened a new path of research for me. I can't accept this for free. Tell me what you need."
"If possible," Luke said, seizing the moment, "I want to choose my own reward for the internship."
Silas understood immediately. Usually, interns were given a random egg from the general nursery. They were good, but Luke was a man who trusted his own eyes. "That's a given. But it's not enough. Your insight is worth more than a standard pick."
"I don't want to pick from the general stock," Luke added. "I want to choose from your private collection."
Silas paused, then nodded. "Fair. I want to see what a talent like you can do with a Grass-type I truly love. Also, I will provide a High-Purity Moon Stone as a personal gift. Arno has been ready for evolution for a long time. Don't let a lack of funds hold back a King."
Luke almost fell out of his seat. A high-purity stone was worth nearly 100,000 League Coins. He wished he could call the man "Father-in-law" right then and there.
Under the cover of night, the two men snuck into the high-security greenhouse of the Suiye Gym. Chloe had been sent home, suspicious but unable to argue.
The greenhouse was a massive indoor forest, a holy land for Grass-type trainers. Luke activated his scan as they walked. In the wild, he saw mostly White names. Here? Almost everything was Blue, with a few Purples tucked away in the shadows.
Luke wiped the drool from his lip. There's something better coming. Don't grab the Bulbasaur. Keep walking...
Silas led him to the innermost vault, secured by fingerprint and iris scanners. He gripped the doorknob with a cheeky grin. "Ready to see the world, kid?"
He pushed the door open. The lights hummed to life, revealing a massive, ancient Banyan tree at the center of the room. Its trunk had been meticulously hollowed out into five layers of natural shelving, each lined with emerald leaves and glowing Pokémon eggs.
Luke habitually triggered his scan. His vision blurred, then focused on a single point on the middle shelf. His heart stopped.
Wow! A Golden Legend!